Advanced Aqueous Cleaner I, Dilute Solutions for the Selective Removal of Post Etch Residues in the Presence of Aluminium

Abstract

This paper described the development of two types of Advanced Aqueous Cleaners (AAC) for Aluminium (Al) Post Etch Residue (PER) removal. The first approach was developed to address a need for cleaning chemistries with a smaller environmental footprint that were also able to clean at significantly lower process times and temperatures than conventional wet chemical cleans. A broad screening experiment was undertaken during which it was highlighted it was possible to clean Al lines in an acidic region though this technology was not extendable to cleaning via features. However, the study emphasised the need to use a selective alkaline reducing formulation to maintain a high cleaning efficiency for the more complex residues formed during via etch. The novel Back End Of Line (BEOL) PER cleaners presented in this paper were optimised using a statistical Design Of Experiment (DOE) to perform at lower temperatures and shorter process times and were Fluoride and organic solvent free while containing a minimum of 80%wt water.